jmcgurn As I gay man, I really liked this film. A more positive vision for at least a few of the characters would have made the movie better. But the acting is very good and violence against gay men still exists today. I have to say that I did not have a problem with the relationship between Theo & Tim. I do not support pedophilia by any means(!), but at 14 ("almost fifteen"), Theo is sexually mature and not confused about his sexuality. He seduces Tim; Tim asks him to leave (4 times I think). I don't believe we know for a fact that Tim is a pedophile. It's only word of mouth from Theo's mother, so consider the source! Their scenes together are quite moving.Watch this film but beware, some of what you will see is very disturbing.

steven-222 There are some good actors in this movie, and some well-directed scenes...but toward what end? The filmmakers seem to have an agenda, but what is it?I think they sincerely want to reduce violence against gay men, but not by showing the victims as vibrant, valuable human beings who ought to be valued and respected or at least left in peace.Instead, they seek to reduce violence against men who go cottaging (looking for sex with other men in toilets and other public places) by making such a practice appear so absolutely pathetic and repulsive that no one would ever want to do such a thing; all the cruising and sex scenes are exceedingly unpleasant. There is no joy of the hunt leading to blissful orgasm here, just sad creatures who have no idea who they are out blindly looking for a momentary thrill to make them feel something, anything, knowing they might get beaten up or killed at any moment.The married man who has sex with other men in the toilet is a craven alcoholic. No role model there!Rupert Graves' character comes as close to a role model as anyone here, which is to say he is not completely repulsive, just sad; he's a self-pitying waster who sees himself as a boy who never grew up. How he envies his straight married friend from university days!Maybe gays should "grow up" and get married like other people. But no, that doesn't work, either, because at heart, they are still immature, selfish, and pathologically promiscuous. So the professionally successful, married gay couple in the movie are shown to be have a meaningless relationship, because one of them is a slut; clearly they are doomed.Then there's the 14-year-old and the 29-year-old who are drawn to each other. They have a hot time, but end up hopeless, alienated, and miserable. Why can't these people just change the way they feel?And how about the kid who takes violin lessons? He may not even be gay, but simply for having talent and a sensitive nature, he must live in constant fear. No happy ending for him. Why can't he butch up a bit? No, he will probably end up going to that toilet looking for sex, and get killed.A young or otherwise impressionable person seeing this movie will get the message: your gay impulses are gross. Act on them and you will likely come to a bad end. Solution: stop that gross behavior! Marry a woman. Stop being a child! And then the world will be a less violent place.

Keith Williamson Such a pity the writer is normally good and the assembled cast was good, but quite frankly I thought this was a dreadful waste of a good opportunity.The stories were full of tired old clichés.A gay man picking up youth at his own civil partnership ceremony. I have been to several and while a few of the single guests might have been on the prowl I have not heard of any of the people taking oaths straying. A lot of the men I know who are now in civil partnerships have been together for years and in the majority of cases have been faithful.Guys search for sex in public toilets – why would you today when everywhere is filmed by CCTV cameras, it is so easy to meet people in gay pubs, bars and clubs these days. Unless married men go to toilets to seek same sex – I don't know.Everyone off there heads on drugs – and I will admit that there are a lot of drugs around on the gay scene – just as there is in straight clubs as well. The trouble is that anyone watching this will come away with the impression that all gay men are sleazy, drug fuelled, sex mad hedonists.I couldn't agree more with the line spoken by the woman at the dinner party "so what if they are sniffing around for sex in bushes like foxes – no one deserves that". I still object to the proliferation of these out-dated and outmoded stereotypes. We are so much more and we deserve so much more and so much better.

hesketh27 Good performances. OK - now wev'e got the only positive comment about this TV film out of the way, let's have a look. What the hell was the point of this? Populated by a group of unpleasant, unlikeable stereotypes, it really looked like something that would have been made 20 years ago. Cliché ridden and unrelentingly grim throughout, the gay characters were either predatory, seedy individuals or had serious repression/hang up or psychological problems. The sex and violence scenes were sensationalist to say the least. This was meant to be part of C4's marking of 40 years of the liberation of gay men from the previous institutionalised repression they had suffered in this country throughout history. There are gay men like the ones in the film, I sometimes meet them, but they certainly do not represent the majority. Nobody wanted to see a positive propaganda exercise about gays, but neither did we want to see this parade of sad / damaged individuals. Whatever happened to balance? A piece of TV that was thoroughly depressing and ultimately, totally pointless.